[Review of the Gamecube version]
I've always been a big fan of third person action adventure stuff. Uncharted is my favorite video game series, and I adore both Infernal Crusade and Emperor's Tomb, the two best third person Indy games. Unfortunately I haven't had the same luck with Tomb Raider, at least before this game. The original Tomb Raiders were too archaic and dated for me, and the newer ones are just not good games IMO. While I'm not completely in love with Legend, I did like it enough to actually finish it, and I have good things to say about it.
First off, I really like Lara's depiction here. She's a capable and confident person, with a professional, but still personalized approach on her work. There's quite a lot of great lines from her. "From this moment on, every breath you draw is a gift for me" might be my favorite one. She also got good fashion sense, solid outfit picks from start to finish. She definitely carries the story for me, as without her, none of the other character, overall plot or lore would be worth caring about.
As normative determinism would have it, the game's best moments comes from the actual tomb raiding levels, as they usually feature the best platforming sections and puzzles, which are the strongest parts of the gameplay. The platforming is usually slower paced, and it's fun to figure where you need to go next. Same goes for the puzzles, which are mostly quite simple, but still require a more detailed look-around at your surroundings. I do notice that many of the puzzles are physics based, which I'm sure is the cool trend back then. The one big flaw of the platforming system is this one mechanic where you need to do a QTE if you jump to a ledge "too soon", and it has lead to many setbacks and slightly tilting moments, especially since it's not exactly a predictable event.
You can't call yourself an action adventure without some baddies to beat, and that's where the old school lock-on gunplay comes in. You're expected to lock-on to enemies, shoot to deal damage and constantly strafe and dodge to avoid getting hurt. This could have been executed much better, to be honest. The lock-on system can be a bit hard to control, and the enemy and weapon variety are utterly lacking. There's not a lot of combat sections, but their presence are very palpable.
There's also boss fights, and it's quite all over the place in terms of quality. I beat the first one with just a shotgun and a bit of luck, and most of the other bosses either have a slight puzzle gimmick that only prolongs the inevitable, or require environment usage in order to kill. The latter ones are more fun, but still, they're not exactly great. I do enjoy the final boss fight quite a bit, it's quite satisfying to be able to finally let loose and do overpowered shenanigans.
Some other smaller things worth mentioning:
- Great atmosphere and visual design in all of the levels!
- There's also vehicle driving sections, which are usually too long and not very fun.
- I wish the flashlight is more effective, many parts of the game are too dark even with them turned on. This definitely made it harder to figure out where to go sometimes.
- Playing this made me realize that Crystal Dynamics were psychos all along. The QTE deaths can be so comically brutal, but it didn't quite disgust me as much as the ones in the newer games.
- I'm surprised by how short this game is, only 5 hours in-game time (although it felt a bit longer than that).
While Legend didn't quite become its namesake, it's not because of its lack of qualities. There's a solid action adventure romp here that will satisfy fans of the genre, and for those who are mostly curious, it'll probably delight you just enough.
I've always been a big fan of third person action adventure stuff. Uncharted is my favorite video game series, and I adore both Infernal Crusade and Emperor's Tomb, the two best third person Indy games. Unfortunately I haven't had the same luck with Tomb Raider, at least before this game. The original Tomb Raiders were too archaic and dated for me, and the newer ones are just not good games IMO. While I'm not completely in love with Legend, I did like it enough to actually finish it, and I have good things to say about it.
First off, I really like Lara's depiction here. She's a capable and confident person, with a professional, but still personalized approach on her work. There's quite a lot of great lines from her. "From this moment on, every breath you draw is a gift for me" might be my favorite one. She also got good fashion sense, solid outfit picks from start to finish. She definitely carries the story for me, as without her, none of the other character, overall plot or lore would be worth caring about.
As normative determinism would have it, the game's best moments comes from the actual tomb raiding levels, as they usually feature the best platforming sections and puzzles, which are the strongest parts of the gameplay. The platforming is usually slower paced, and it's fun to figure where you need to go next. Same goes for the puzzles, which are mostly quite simple, but still require a more detailed look-around at your surroundings. I do notice that many of the puzzles are physics based, which I'm sure is the cool trend back then. The one big flaw of the platforming system is this one mechanic where you need to do a QTE if you jump to a ledge "too soon", and it has lead to many setbacks and slightly tilting moments, especially since it's not exactly a predictable event.
You can't call yourself an action adventure without some baddies to beat, and that's where the old school lock-on gunplay comes in. You're expected to lock-on to enemies, shoot to deal damage and constantly strafe and dodge to avoid getting hurt. This could have been executed much better, to be honest. The lock-on system can be a bit hard to control, and the enemy and weapon variety are utterly lacking. There's not a lot of combat sections, but their presence are very palpable.
There's also boss fights, and it's quite all over the place in terms of quality. I beat the first one with just a shotgun and a bit of luck, and most of the other bosses either have a slight puzzle gimmick that only prolongs the inevitable, or require environment usage in order to kill. The latter ones are more fun, but still, they're not exactly great. I do enjoy the final boss fight quite a bit, it's quite satisfying to be able to finally let loose and do overpowered shenanigans.
Some other smaller things worth mentioning:
- Great atmosphere and visual design in all of the levels!
- There's also vehicle driving sections, which are usually too long and not very fun.
- I wish the flashlight is more effective, many parts of the game are too dark even with them turned on. This definitely made it harder to figure out where to go sometimes.
- Playing this made me realize that Crystal Dynamics were psychos all along. The QTE deaths can be so comically brutal, but it didn't quite disgust me as much as the ones in the newer games.
- I'm surprised by how short this game is, only 5 hours in-game time (although it felt a bit longer than that).
While Legend didn't quite become its namesake, it's not because of its lack of qualities. There's a solid action adventure romp here that will satisfy fans of the genre, and for those who are mostly curious, it'll probably delight you just enough.